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Giteau earns his purse
4th May 2008, 12:30 WST
Matt Giteau earned his millions the hard way at a drama-charged Subiaco Oval last night.
The Western Force fly-half showed nerves of high-tensile steel to coolly slot a penalty kick after the final siren for a 22-21 victory which sent the crowd of 21,500 into rapture.
The win prolongs the Force’s mathematical chance of making the finals for a further week at least.
Although the Chiefs got bonus points for finishing within seven points, they will drop out of the top four.
The visitors paid the price for profligacy with hand and boot.
They butchered at least five try-scoring chances and fly-half Stephen Donald had a bad night with his goal kicking, missing three chances he’d normally make without any trouble.
The Force raced to a 14-3 half time lead with tries from Matt Hodgson and Drew Mitchell dominating the opening 40 minutes, despite a makeshift side which included several teenagers and club players.
A Lelia Masaga try soon after the restart gave the Chiefs some momentum but their high error rate gave the Force a chance to gain territory and, on one of those forays, scrum-half James Stannard sneaked over the line on the blind side to a 19-8 lead.
The last 20 minutes belonged to the Chiefs, who pounded at the Force defence.
Donald scored a converted try and booted a penalty to close the gap to 19-18 and when Callum Bruce dropped a goal with four minutes left to give the Chiefs the lead for the first time at 21-19, it seemed they’d escape with a win.
However, the Force fought back and got across the line with three seconds left when Cameron Shepherd scooped up the ball and touched down.
The television referee spotted a knock-on, however, and boos resounded around the ground.
They changed to cheers when referee Marius Jonker called play back for an earlier penalty and Giteau duly earned the Force a win, in much the same way Shepherd did against the Hurricanes last year.
DAVE HUGHES